Frontera

Last Saturday I finally dined at Frontera Sol of Mexico in Jaya One with my old friends Audrey and Sandee. The restaurant serves a host of tempting Mexican and Tex-Mex favourites to their regulars. What does Tex-Mex mean? It is basically a combination of the words Texan and American, describing the robust flavours and cuisines that blend with each other.

Ever since I watched the first season of Top Chef Masters where Rick Bayless was crowned as champion, I’ve been quite curious about the cuisine. Rick Bayless is seriously one cool cat. In a high-pressure cooking contest which had the most feared and respected chefs in America, he was humble and calm throughout the entire season. He is considered the leading authority on Mexican cuisine in America and is also known for his series Mexico: One Plate at a Time. I thought it was pretty funny when Ludo Lefebvre, an opinionated French chef who was also a contestant in Top Chef Masters; whined loudly during a cooking challenge to do Mexican street food because he hardly had any chance in winning against Rick, the taco expert! Rick also has a string of awards to his name and to put it in perspective, his restaurant Frontera Grill was ranked the third-best casual dining restaurant in the world by the International Herald Tribune.

So back to Frontera, we were spoilt for choice as the menu was quite extensive, spanning from tacos, tostadas, quesadillas, burritos, nachos and much more. We decided to order the Habanero Hot Wings because we couldn’t resist having our fair share of chicken wings. Ours was the second level of spiciness and luckily we didn’t try the fourth level as it was quite strong. Spicy with a sour tang, you can eat your chicken wings and mop up its rich marinade sauce. It is also served with cilantro ranch dressing and crunchy celery sticks.

Next, we ordered the Crispy Taco Salad which is described as mixed salad greens in a crispy tortilla shell and topped with chicken or beef with tomatoes, guacamole, cheese and sour cream. I love guacamole and it originates from the Aztecs in Mexico. If there’s any dish that has guacamole, I’ll take generous portions of it. Avocados are pretty expensive in Malaysia too, but it is packed with nutrients. I was once offered to drink an avocado smoothie but I’m still not ready to drink that concoction yet! I’ll only touch smoothies made from berries, mango, chocolate and vanilla. Don’t even try to include bananas!

I didn’t order the Fajitas because it is quite common at Chilli’s so we ordered the Enchiladas Nortena instead which was topped with chili corn carne and chili con queso. This was definitely comfort food. Our sides for the dish were refried beans and the Mexican rice which tasted average. As we were quite hungry, we gleefully ate almost all of everything. The 3 dishes was just nice for the 3 of us. Other dishes that you can probably try is the Frontera Fiesta Platter which is great for sharing. It has Crispy Taquitos de Pollo, Habanero Hot Wings, Jalapeno Crab Cakes and Stuffed Jalapenos. Their signature Frontera Burger comprises of a juicy Mesquite-grilled 100% beef patty with salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, dill pickles and onions on a toasted bun. Frontera’s Texan specialties include the Country Fried Steak, San Antonio Style Grilled Chicken Breast, Frontera’s BBQ Beef Ribs and Spicy Prawn Diablo.

Although we were stuffed to the brim, we decided to go for the Last Polka ice-cream at The Bee. It was a pretty quiet night and most of the diners were sitting outside. We chose the Salted Gula Melaka, Mango and Teh Tarik flavours. Audrey is from Melaka so we were not surprised that she chose Salted Gula Melaka! She commented that it was pretty salty and she only found bits and pieces of Gula Melaka in the middle layers. The Mango flavour was ok, although it would have been nice if there were actual chunks of mangos in it. The Teh Tarik flavour was quite strong and you could taste the heady notes of tea. It was fun chatting with the two of them and our conversation definitely reflected our age as we talked about back aches and shoulder pains! I think we even talked about ergonomic chairs! We’ll definitely go for another meal soon, that’s for sure!